Happy 19th anniversary, Lord of the Rings Online - you absolute legend. As reported by PCGamesN, the long-running MMORPG is going absolutely ham on its anniversary celebrations, and the headline feature is something fans have wanted for ages: player housing in Rivendell itself.
That's right, you can now live out your Bilbo Baggins retirement fantasy by buying up a slice of the Last Homely House. Finally, somewhere to hang your elven cloak and complain about how the game has changed since the early days - just like your character would.
What's in the anniversary patch?
The celebrations are packing in a serious amount of content, with Rivendell housing being the crown jewel of the update. It's the kind of addition that makes you want to boot up a character you haven't touched in three years, spend 45 minutes remembering your keybinds, and then spend six hours decorating a virtual house instead of doing the actual quests.
LotRO has been running since 2007, which in MMO years basically makes it Gandalf - ancient, still relevant, and somehow always showing up right when you need it. The game has outlived countless competitors who tried to steal its lunchbox, and it's still farming anniversary events like a level-capped veteran who refuses to uninstall.
The one thing players actually want, though
There's a catch, as there always is. According to PCGamesN, the playerbase has been very vocal about wanting a 4K UI overhaul for modern displays. The current interface apparently does not scale gracefully to contemporary monitors, which is the MMORPG equivalent of trying to read a treasure map through a keyhole.
Housing in an iconic location is a massive W, no question - but when your UI looks like it was designed for a monitor your cousin used to play RuneScape on in 2006, it does take some of the shine off the elven architecture. Players are essentially asking the developers to apply some much-needed texture upgrades to the menus before adding more real estate to the server.
Still, nineteen years of Middle-earth content is nothing to dismiss. Whether you're a returning veteran or a fresh-faced hobbit who just discovered the game exists, there has never been a better time to pretend you are Bilbo, kick back in Rivendell, and ignore the dark lord knocking at your door.
